


The Mission Has Failed

by JasmineBaggins



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:14:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1524122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasmineBaggins/pseuds/JasmineBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A WIP taking place after Cap 2.</p><p>After keeping him at bay for a few months, Bucky surrenders himself to Steve but doesn't explain himself or even speak. </p><p>The story is gen except for canon pairings, but since I enjoy the Popular Slash Pairings (tm) quite a bit, it easy to squint and see them. Like, pretty darn easy, I should say. </p><p>Unbeta'd cause if I waited for that I would probably never get this far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_In the end, Steve didn't find Bucky, Bucky found Steve. Or, to be more precise, the Winter Soldier tracked his target on a trip halfway across the world, leaving clues that kept him just at bay as his already fragile sense of self fell apart. Finding the target was never the problem, it came more easily to the Winter Soldier than breathing, or talking or knowing his name. But now that the mission had failed...now that it had all...what was he supposed to do next?_

***  
Since S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer an option, Steve brought him (silent as the grave during the eight hour flight, despite Steve’s own considerable efforts to get some clue, anything at all really, as to what his friend was thinking), to New York to stay in Tony’s revamped Avengers Tower. 

“I don’t wanna be the one to say it, Steve…”

He smiled vaguely at Sam from the passenger seat, grateful as ever for his presence. He hadn't felt less alone in years than traveling with Sam these past few months, following Bucky’s trail and fighting over who would take the pilot’s role ever time they flew anywhere. (It should have been him, Sam had less experience flying actual planes than he did, but the argument always ended with a “how many nosedive induced seventy year comas have I ended up in?”, so he invariably ended up in the passenger’s seat). He’d also felt closer to falling apart these past few months than he’d had been at least since...well...since Bucky’s fall, so it was nice to have someone like Sam around who always seemed know when to put his two cents in and when to just let things lie. This was obviously not the latter and he couldn't really say he was surprised, but he glanced behind them, affirming that their passenger was actually sleeping before responding. 

“There’s no reason from him to give himself up so suddenly, I know.” 

He sighed, watching his friend fly for a few moments. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, expect for the fact that nothing about this situation was comfortable. 

“Maybe he’s just...tired. At the tower he can...we can give him a chance to rest. ”

“Maybe…” Sam paused. “Hey, Steve, when you woke up, was that the first thing you wanted to do, rest?”

He glanced back again and thought he saw, just for a moment, their silent cargo’s eyelids give a little flutter. But, just as when he’d appeared three days ago in alleyway on the outskirts of Rome, Bucky Barnes said nothing. 

***

“Hi, it’s great to meet you, I’m-”

“Yeah, I know who you are, kid, who do you think designed your wings?”

Sam rolled his eyes and hoisted his bag a little higher on his shoulder. “Right. Well. If nobody really minds…” he gestured to the blank faced Bucky who seems impervious to Tony Stark peering at his mechanical arm with a look that could only be described as “barely contained lustful interest” and a vague smile from Pepper Potts whose eyes hadn’t left her StarkPhone for more than half a second since they’d arrived. “I’ll just go find a room.” He gave Steve a little pat on the shoulder before doing just that, figuring he’d be needed before long. 

 

***

“Picking out new recruits for the Avengers Initiative, Cap?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “It’d be a little hard for them to start that up again now that there’s no S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Ah, right, that.” Tony had his fingers poised just an inch or so from Bucky’s arm but had snapped back to attention suddenly, striding over to what Steve could only assume was a coffee maker, but only from the fact that Tony was able to retrieve coffee from it, it’s shape gave no other clue. 

“Thanks for not calling me, by the way. Stopping missiles, uncovering conspiracies and giving the middle finger during press conferences about it later, definitely doesn't sound like my kind of thing at all. Glad you left me out of it. How was uh, Fury’s funeral, by the way?”

Steve paused for only a moment before glossing over the reference to Nick Fury’s supposed death. “I thought we agreed, you take the West Coast, I cover East. Besides, aren't you were retired?”

“Semi-retired. Which is basically like not being retired at all, but Pepper seems less stressed out about it.”

For her part, Pepper made a noise without looking up from her phone that indicated she didn't quite agree.

“Look, I don’t want to be one to say this but…” Steve snorted. He believed that line a good deal less from Tony than he did from Sam. “Are we gonna restrain the brainwiped killing machine or are we just letting him walk around the tower, willy nilly?”

Steve’s glance bounced over to Bucky, immediately, but as usual, he looked, for all the world, like he had no opinion on what was going on around him.

“I know how it looks but…” He sighed. “It’s just...I can’t do that to him...not after everything…”

“Look, Steve.” Tony’s voice was softer, then, which made everything seem altogether worse. “I get it. I’m trying to imagine that guy over there as Rhodey, or Pepper...really, I get it. But, come on. I've read up on this guy. One false move and...I mean, Thor has his _brother_ locked up, and Loki, at least, can join a conversation that’s happening right in front of him.”

“There have actually been a few updates on that.” Steve’s eyes darted over to Pepper, welcoming the diversion. 

“I’m sorry, Pep, are you implying that you've wired your phone to text Asgard? Because if so, I've got to say, we've really been misusing your talents.” Tony grinned at her with his typical half casual sarcasm, but something in the look they shared reminded him so strongly of Bucky when he really liked a girl and how strange he’d feel just standing around while they made jokes and held hands and Bucky tried to be charming, but how happy he’d been too, just watching standing on the outside of something that could be really special, that he had to sit down. 

“My talents are always misused.” She grinned back, before adding. “I’m in contact with Darcy Lewis. She told me that the situation had changed a few months ago, after the London thing blew over.” 

“Darcy Lewis?”

“Jane Foster’s assistant.”

“Am I supposed to know these people?”

“Jane Foster? She’s an...extremely well known physicist. I know for a fact you've met at least twice.” 

“And yet it doesn't ring any bells.”

“Brunette. Big smile. Dresses down.”

“Oh, _Jane_!” 

“Yes, Jane.” 

Tony grimaced exaggeratedly. “Hideous.” 

“Mmm. Right. Well, her assistant told me Thor actually freed Loki and he’d ended up sacrificing himself or something...she was a little unclear on the details.”

“He died?” Steve blinked. 

“Yeah, well good riddance.” Tony turned back to Pepper quickly. “You didn't think to tell me about any of that? Is there a reason you’re texting with the Darcy Lewis’ of the world and not telling me about it?”

She smirked. “I have a company to run. I need to protect my assets.” 

“That’s probably the sexiest thing you've ever said to me.” 

From out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Tony reach towards Bucky’s mechanical arm again and then...CRACK. Without turning his head, Bucky had Tony’s flesh and blood wrist wrapped in his steel grip. 

“Nрикоснитесь моей руки и Вы теряете Вашу.”*

He let go. 

Pepper let out a gasp that sounded suspiciously like a sob and pulled Tony back towards her, phone forgotten. 

And Steve was on his feet, instinct having taken him there, pushing himself between them. 

Then, and only then, Bucky looked up. He eyes darted away from Steve’s, searching for Tony’s. 

“Howard and Maria Stark, Long Island, New York, mission completed, 1991.” There was only the briefest of pauses. “ I killed your parents.”

There was a long pause before Steve put his hand on his friend’s chest, ostensibly pushing him away. “Bucky…”

He sat down again and stared at the wall, as if he had never moved. 

“I love your friend, Steve…”

“Tony, he-” But what was there to say?

Pepper picked up her phone again and wiped a tear away before pulling her boyfriend a little farther away. 

“I wasn't texting Darcy, by the way. I was texting Bruce. No offense, honey, but I think this is a little out of your wheelhouse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *the Russian phrase was translated by a native speaker (and her parents) for me. It roughly translates as "you take hold of my arm and you, sir, will lose yours." It was originally supposed to be "touch my arm and you'll lose your own" but this was the closest we could get.
> 
> The first word, the one for touch (I think?) includes three extra letters which signify malicious intent. Even though Bucky knows Tony isn't intending to attack him, he is still interpreting it as violent because ...uh...because Bucky. 
> 
> The noun for you is as if Bucky is addressing a superior, but that is not to imply he views Tony as such. He simply was taught to speak Russian that way, he has never said the "you" that signifies a peer, because the Russians who spoke to him did not want him addressing them that way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter thrown in just to get an update. Bruce wants to examine Bucky.

Steve didn’t sleep well, but he did sleep, a long since enforced habit. Sleep was a necessity in the proper care of his body and mind. Like with exercise, he could well afford to skip a day and that was exactly why he didn’t. When he woke, eyes clear and muscles fresh despite the ever present knots in his stomach, Bruce had already arrived.

***

“Steve, how are you?” Bruce shook his hand absently, his eyes darting between display screens. 

“Oh, I’m great, Bruce.” Steve half smiled, carrying a glass of milk over to where Sam was sitting. 

“So, as I was saying, there’s only so much I can do without a full exam-” Bruce rattled on, seemingly unphased by Steve’s tone. 

“And as I was saying, you’re welcome to try sticking a needle into the Soviet Sensation, hell, that’s a fight I’d like to see, but Pepper here doesn’t much like it when I voluntarily let two monsters duke it out in a room full of expensive equipment so...we might wanna think up a backup plan.”

There was a long pause punctuated by the intermittent sounds of typing from Pepper on her laptop as Steve sipped his milk and eyed Tony out of the corner of his eye. He’d thought this was the best place to bring Bucky, but now he wasn’t so sure. They’d led Bucky somewhere secure for the night, a comfortable looking room with a two way mirror he was just sitting in, which already felt too much like jail for his comfort but was the only way they could alleviate tensions. He’d thought finding Bucky was going to be the problem, or maybe convincing him to come with him but it just seemed like things were getting worse. 

“Steve.” Sam’s voice broke through his reverie. “What if you tried just talking to him, one on one? You’re the one he sought out. Maybe if you were alone, he’d have something to say.” 

They were all looking at him and even Tony gave a little “give it a shot” shrug, so off he went. 

***

“Bucky,” he was very aware that the other Avengers were listening in. “How are you?”

Nothing. 

“Okay, well, my friend out there, Bruce, he’s a doctor. He wants to look at you, not to hurt you, Bucky, but to see if...if we can help you…”

“Это заказ?”

Steve blinked for a moment. His Russian was kind of...rudimentary. What he wouldn’t give for Natasha here...but Pepper had made the point last night that if they were going to invite any more high profile terrorist threats here they’d probably need a better reason than to provide services equivalent to Google translate and then Tony had started complaining about all the people he didn’t like who worked for Google and Sam had made a bunch of comments intending to soothe the vibe in the room that kept irritating Tony further until they all gave up and went to sleep. 

And now here he was, alone again, with a friend who looked at him like a stranger and spoke to him in a language they’d never learned. 

Before he could respond, Bucky turned and looked him full in the eyes for the first time since Rome and repeated himself in English. 

“Is that an order?”

“An order?” It was a blow, worse than a blow, really, he’d been attacked by this new Bucky more than once, to have him ask that. “No, _no_ , Bucky, of course not. I would never-” 

“Then _no_.”

Tony’s voice boomed from what he imagine was a PA system of sorts. “It is an order. Tell him it is an order. Not attacking Bruce while he examines him? Kinda qualifies as an order.”

Bucky’s eyes hadn’t left his. It was a challenge or a question or...both. Very slowly, he felt himself nod and immediately Bucky’s eyes dropped and he stood, ready to be led to the exam room or...Steve imagined, just about anywhere he told him to go. 

He stopped an inch or two before the door, eyes still forward, avoiding his. 

“That isn’t my name.”

His mouth felt dry. “What name do you...prefer?”

They stood in silence. 

“Come on, B...what do you want me to call you? What do you...what do you want from me?”

More silence. 

He opened the door. The others were waiting. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contains a conversation between Tony and Steve. May result in...emotions. I hope. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This chapter includes a good deal of drinking from Tony. I hesitated with this but, MCU Tony is not an alcoholic and in fact, drinks in the Avengers. I don't know if that's going to be a storyline they go with or if IM2 is their equivalent, only time will tell, but I'm writing as if he is actually much more a social drinker at this point and simply fronts as the cool guy when drinking/talking about alcohol because that's his brand.

The rest of the day was spent in such a gloomy fog that Steve actually agreed to join Tony for a drink and had made his way all the way to an upper floor bar before admitting he would probably be a waste of whiskey. 

“Oh, that’s right!” Tony snorted before pouring himself a glass and taking a hearty swig. “Man, worst kryptonite ever.” He grinned a little. “That’s reference, grandpa.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m aware.” He sat down at a stool. “But I don’t know, I’ll take clean living before I’d take shrapnel in my heart.”

“Ouch. That really hits home. Or, it would if that whole shrapnel thing wasn’t something I had taken care of during my recent absence from the crime fighting scene, but anyway, yes, I had something lodged in my heart that wanted to kill me...and it doesn’t seem like I’m the only one.” He gave him a satisfied look before taking another swig. 

As if it wanted to make some sort of dime novel, dramatic point, Steve’s heart gave a little jolt, but strangely it was more because of Tony’s misgivings than anything else. It wasn’t that he thought Tony was right...it was that he could see why Tony thought he was right. He could see why it seemed like he had brought an unstable killing machine into a building full of weapons because he was too emotionally compromised to see straight. He could feel the tension, the judgement, the pity...he could feel all of that every time he walked into a room. It was coming off of Tony, Pepper, Bruce and even, painful as it was to admit, off of Sam every time he looked at them. He could feel it and he couldn’t deny their right to it and he hated it because even admitting that felt like he was watching Bucky fall again. But especially Tony...Tony had a right to it more than any of them and he hated that more than anything.

“Tony…” he started. “When B...when he...grabbed you-”

“Can I tell you a story, Steve? Of course I can, you’re in my house. Well, you know, I guess it’s the Avengers’ house now but I paid for it so...anyway. My story. Well, actually it’s kind of my dad’s story…” He took another sip of his drink. 

“Look, Tony.” He braced himself internally. “I know what you’re going to-”

“Yeah, I actually don’t think you do but you know, we’ll see. Anyway. My dad’s story. Now, my dad... well you knew him, obviously. He knew you. He and I didn’t always...see eye to eye, let’s say. But when I was a kid he used to tell me, uh…” he took another swig. “Stories. And you know, there’s a Smithsonian exhibit on Captain America now (you’re welcome, by the way) but there was a time when most of the world, if they’d heard about you at all, thought you were some kind of trumped up propaganda to sell bonds and comic books. But my dad made a damn sure I knew you were real because he wanted me to know learn about SACRIFICE and HEROISM and, you know, hard drinking by example. So, yeah, I was the kid who knew superheroes were real and thirty years later I got kidnapped by terrorists and made a supersuit to shoot my way out. I’m certainly not saying there wouldn’t be an Iron Man if there hadn’t been a Captain America but if that’s the conclusion you want to draw…” he shrugged again before refilling his glass. Steve didn’t know what to say. 

“But the thing about my dad’s stories were...you weren’t the only one he talked about. See, after you got frozen and he started searching for you he starting doing all these missions with some other guys who knew you. The Howling Commandos, if I remember correctly...which I'm sure I do. Really macho. Had a great ring to it when I was a seven year old. It sounded cool enough that it wasn’t until...oh, I’d say a month or two ago that I really understood that what my dad and the commandos and your old girlfriend were really doing in those coded stories my dad was telling was forming S.H.I.E.L.D. Don’t tell anyone. I’m supposed to be perceptive...but you know, Daddy issues. Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is those guys didn’t just know you...they knew this other guy too, an old friend of yours. They’d served with him too. He was dead. My dad had met him once before you guys shipped out. He liked him. They drank together. But when he had the whole story from the uh, Manly Squad of Cultural Diversity or whatever, my dad...he really picked up on the whole story of Bucky Barnes. He wasn’t a super soldier. He was a good soldier, sure, but nothing super about him. But he’d had this friendship with ol’ Cap. And maybe it was something about him that showed our Captain what kind of man he was supposed to be when he was still a ninety pound weakling or maybe it was our hero himself who made this regular guy become so much more...but either way you sliced it, my dad never stopped stressing that there were two heroes who died for their country in that unit, even if only one had a flashy outfit. I guess he was trying to teach me about the strength in loyalty or the everyman, or something, which was, you know, ironic because he kept sending me off to boarding school so he could cheat on my mom in peace but, it just so happened that I did have a friend named James and I did sort of manipulate him into going by a nicknamey version of his middle name so, I guess I was kind of paying attention.”

He paused again to take a sip. 

“A couple of years ago, when I was going through my dad’s pictures for the exhibit I found this one of the two of you and you know, I gotta tell you, a lot of what he told me during my childhood, true or not, was a whole lot of mind-game, puzzle and allegory bullshit but that story...I think that story about Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers was a straightforward truth. So...yeah, I have enough higher order thinking skills to know, Bucky Barnes didn’t kill my parents. HYDRA did. You don’t have to worry about me enacting some kind of vengeance, despite what it says on the side of this building. But that doesn’t make this any easier.”

They sat in silence for a while. 

“Tony…” He voice came out harshly, suddenly. “About Nick-”

“Oh, are you gonna tell me Fury faked his death, finally? Newsflash, old man. I know. We’ve been in contact. Not for nothing, but I’ve known that guy a lot longer than you have and he might not trust me with government secrets, but I’m someone he likes to keep on his speedial list. In case of emergency, break iron.”

Steve pursed his lips. “Then why didn’t he call you when the situation was hot?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know, why didn’t you?” He took another sip. “More to the point, why didn’t I call you guys when my house got torched by the Mandarin two years ago and I had to save the president. The truth is, you’re soldier. You do what guys like Fury tell you to...I imagine he said trust nobody and you took that literally and I also imagine our little russian doll forced your trust with nothing more than a quivering lip.”

“Nat is-”

“I know what Nat is. She’s the world’s first Lady Superhero. I mean, Pepper actually saved the day a couple of times in ways no one knows about, but unequivocally, yes Natasha is great (you know, now) but you have no reason to turn to her before you turn to me except that you know how to work with people like her, who follow orders, and I have been spending the last three years trying to be as unavailable to any of you as possible, so much so that it turns out I stopped hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. databases long before I found any of their most important secrets.”

He paused again. 

“But you came to me with Bucky.”

“I did.” 

“And someday, we’re probably going to have to suit up and go into to battle and work together again, so for the sake of friendship, and teamwork and loyalty and whatever else my dad was trying to teach me, let me give you a little unsolicited advice.”

“...Okay.”

“Bucky is dead. He fell. The guy in that room is not him. Maybe Bruce can pull your pal out of there but...I doubt it. And there’s gonna come a time where you might have to think about what you can really do for him to give him some peace.”

There was another long pause. 

“Are you...are you really telling me to kill Bucky, Tony? After all that?”

“No. I’m not. I’m saying...and I’m only saying it because no one else will, that there may come a point when you’re out of other options and there might be one more order you’ll have to give him and between you and me, I think he’ll be more than happy to obey.”


End file.
